Indian citizens holding handwritten passports or passports with 20-year validity beyond November 24, 2015 should apply for the re-issue of their passports and obtain machine-readable passports (MRP) from the embassy before the deadline ends, the Indian embassy said yesterday.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has set a deadline of November 24, 2015 for globally phasing out all non-Machine Readable Passports. From November 25, 2015 onwards, foreign governments may deny visa or entry to any person travelling with a non-MRP passport.
All handwritten passports with pasted photos, earlier issued by Government of India, are considered non-MRP passports. All 20-year validity passports will also fall in this category.
The Government of India started issuing MRP passports since 2001 and all new Indian passports are ICAO-compliant MRP passports, added the mission statement.
The absence of possessing new MRP passports before the deadline would avoid any inconvenience in obtaining foreign visa or immigration problem.
Further details on passport services could be had on the passport website (www.passportindia.gov.in) or the National Call Centre (toll free number 1800-258-1800) may be accessed.